Unconditionally and Irrevocably
by tititenis
Summary: Delphine Cormier is a high school student who recently moved from France to the isolated city of Gatineau in Canada. There, she expects things to be boring, that is until she meets the strange and charming Cosima Niehaus. Soon enough, Delphine finds herself falling in love with her, which makes her enter into this whole new world that she thought only existed in myths and movies.
1. A New Beginning

When Delphine left France, she didn't expect anything exciting to happen. Her mom was getting married with a nice guy named Art (yes, an American) and they told her that she could move with them to Germany where he would start his new job as detective. When she heard the word 'Germany', she knew right away that she was not going to go with them, and instead decided to call her father, who lived in Canada, and ask him if she could move-in with him and finish high school in Gatineau, a small city that was 165 km away from Montreal. After that, she was going to be free as a bird, and could do whatever she wanted. The plan was good, and after a lot of talking, she managed to convince her mom that this was for the best, and that it would be good for her to spend some quality time with her father. Besides, she always had the option of going back if she didn't like it. She said goodbye to her mom and Art at the airport, and without looking back, she left Paris and her old life behind.

* * *

She did not remember much her times with her father, since he and her mom separated when she was 11 years old, the flame of their passionate love turned to ashes after a couple of years. They had met in Montreal, both studying at the Universite de Montreal, and after a couple of years, they got married and moved to the town of Gatineau. Her mom had hated the place since the moment she first saw it, her being accustomed to the city life of Paris, while her father enjoyed the woods and long hunting trips. It was a match meant to break, and it did when she was 11 years old. Her mom couldn't take it anymore, and after a terrible fight, she left with her and went to France. Delphine knew that her father loved her, and after agreeing to an amicable divorce that made Delphine spend Christmas in Gatineau and the rest of the year in Paris, it seemed that her parents reached that point of friendship that they were meant to have from the start. Still, her father shared some of the characteristics that Delphine had, especially that he was quiet too. With her mom, it was the opposite, and because she talked all the time, it was easy for Delphine to just stay quiet and nod in confirmation or disagreement. She found out soon that her father was the opposite. She didn't mind the silence, but it seemed that her father was nervous and in an attempt to make small talk he was being the opposite to his usual self.

"So tell me Delphine, do you know what you want to study after you are done with high school?"

"I want to get a PHD in immunology." she answered simply.

Her father hummed."And that is?"

"Host-parasite relationships."

"Well, from what I heard from old Luke, the high school seems to have a very nice laboratory." he said while looking straight to the front of the car.

Delphine just nodded, not quite sure about the validity of the comment made by old Luke, or the fact that a guy named old Luke was giving his seal of approval to the school lab. After that small exchange, her father stayed quiet until they reached home. Delphine smiled softly, remembering her room and the moments that she spent there. The place looked exactly the same, and this made her, in a strange way, feel welcomed. Her father got her bags out of the car, and motioned her to look inside the garage. In there she saw a big red truck, and squealing she made her way back to her dad and hugged him, smiling broadly.

"I'm glad you like it." he said while smiling. "I know it's not much, but it will take you around town."

"I love it." she said honestly.

"See, I told you she would like it." she heard a voice say behind her.

When she turned, she saw a man with a hat coming towards them, followed by a young boy who looked embarrassed. His dad smiled and shaked the hand of the man.

"Delphine, you remember John right?" he said while motioning her to come and say hello.

Delphine shaked his hand. "Of course I do, how are you?"

"I'm doing alright. Happy to see you again Delphine. Your old man was becoming quite boring." he said while smirking.

Delphine smiled at the comment, and she saw the young man do the same. He came forward, and after a while Delphine recognized him.

"Paul?" she said with surprise, images of a young kid playing with her on the forest on her mind.

He nodded. "Long time no see Delphine. Welcome back." he said while giving her a quick hug. "If the car ever gives you any problem, just let me know. Sometimes it can be quite a little biatch." he said while laughing.

"Paul has managed to become quite a mechanic." John said while looking at his son with pride, he just shrugged.

Delphine smiled at both. "I will keep that in mind." and as soon as she said it she felt herself yawn.

"And I think that is our cue to go." John said while motioning for his son to follow him.

"Paul has grown up a lot, don't you think?" her father told her while going inside.

Delphine looked at him and started to laugh. "Are you seriously going to play matchmaker?" she mocked him. She could see him turn all red.

"So, this is your room." he said while leaving her baggage inside. "And we will have to share the bathroom." he added lightly. Delphine scolded, not liking that at all. "And tomorrow you start school, but since you just arrived they are not expecting you to have all the materials, so don't worry about that."

Delphine nodded and quickly went inside her room, wanting a little bit of privacy. She looked around, seeing that everything was just the way she left it six years ago. She quickly plugged her computer, and sent her mom an email in which she told her shortly about her day. After that, she took out her stuff and made her bag. It was almost 10pm when she was finally done, and after eating some pizza with her father, she was at bed reading one of her favorites book, _The Island of Dr. Moreau. _She always loved that book, although people often told her that it was a weird reading choice. She did not care, and with science and adventures on her mind, she fell asleep.


	2. The Meeting

Delphine was nervous about her first day of class. She never liked to be the center of attention, and for some terrible karma, it turns out that there hasn't been a new student in the Gatineau High School in four years. She went to the front desk to ask for her schedule, and after being asked the common questions like _You are Philippe's daughter, right? _and _It's so nice to see you again, _she was able to go to her first class, which nicely enough was literature. The problem was that she had no idea where the classroom was, and after a while she ran into a boy who looked at her and smiled brightly at her, in a small creepy way.

"You are Delphine Cormier, right?" he said while grinning.

Delphine nodded quietly.

"My name is Felix Dawkins, and I am the school photographer and head journalist, nice to meet you." he said while stretching his hand, Delphine shaked it. "And now that I ran into you, I was wondering if you would let me do an article on you, you see, it has been a long time since we have had a new student, which means that you are the hot news." he said while smiling.

Delphine was terrified, the last thing she wanted was to be on the cover of the school newspaper. She quickly took out her schedule and showed it to him. "I'm actually lost." she said quietly.

Felix quickly took the schedule from her hand, desperate to help her. "You need to go to the first floor, and then turn right and keep going until you see the water fountain. After that, it's the classroom across the hall." he said happily.

Delphine smiled shyly, and after thanking him for his help, she ran to the classroom. As she expected, her tardiness was noted, and everyone kept staring at her through the rest of her classes. Between breaks, people would approach her and introduce themselves. Seriously, she did not understand what was wrong with these people, and at lunch, she got approached by Felix, who grabbed her by the shoulder and took her to the table where he was sitting.

"So..." he said while making everyone look at him. "Have you met my new best friend Delphine Cormier."

Delphine looked embarrassed across the table, being able to identify most of the faces. They all nodded, and smiled warmly at her, which made her be intimidated. In France she was not used to this level of popularity, and the way in which people were waiting for her to say something was making her be exhausted. A young man stood and motioned for her to sit right next to him, which she did, making him smile from ear to ear.

"My name is Scott." he said while smiling. "And you already met Felix"

Delphine nodded.

"So then we have Angela, who with Felix manage the school newspaper." she saw a woman smile at her. "And then this is Aynsley." he added. The woman to whom he pointed smiled at her, but there was something in her smile that seemed fake. Delphine smiled softly back and started to eat her food.

The guys were making jokes between them, and after a while, Delphine felt a kiss on her cheek, making her get all red with shame. She could see Aynsley face of disapproval, who looked to where the guys were running.

"Seriously, sometimes they behave like children." she said dramatically.

Angela nodded. "So tell us Delphine, what do you plan to study?"

Delphine was going to answer her, but when she looked up to her, she saw the door of the cafeteria open and a group of people enter it. They were the most beautiful human beings that she had seen, and the way they walked was almost as if they were not touching the ground. She was in complete awe, and after she stayed quiet for a while, she instead asked:

"Who are they?"

Aynsley smiled knowingly, and got closer to Delphine.

"Those are the Manning's." she whispered to Delphine. "They are the children of Dr. Douglas Manning and Marian Bowles. The first one is Alison." she said while motioning to a short woman with brown hair and bangs. "And they guy next to him is Donnie, who is Sarah's brother." she said while pointing to the girl who had just entered the cafeteria. She had a long black mane that was accentuated by her black leather clothes. "Next to her is Alison's brother Cal." she said while looking at Delphine with curiosity.

Delphine stopped focusing on what Aynsley was telling her, because another person came behind Cal, and they way she moved left Delphine breathless. She was of a petite stature, her hair black hair being held by dreads and black thick glasses covering her brown eyes.

"That." Angela said while pointing quietly at the woman. "Is Cosima Manning." she said quietly.

"Totally cute, but also totally going for the other team." Aynsley said shrugging.

"Yeah, but come on, wouldn't you, you know, be with her?" Angela said. "I know I would."

"Yeah, but like she thinks that she is so hot and that no one in this school is worth her time."

Delphine thought that she imagined it, but she could have sworn that she saw Cosima smile softly, as if she could hear what Angela and Aynsley were talking about.

"They only keep to themselves, and I know that they are all family, but they do act like they are couples, which is just weird." Aynsley kept saying.

Delphine was just staring at their table, and after a while she saw how Cosima looked at her, her eyes filled with surprise and curiosity, which then turned to concern. She knew that she had to stop looking at their table, but her curiosity was bigger. Nevertheless, when she felt the boys approach the table again she looked back at them. Lunch time was over, and her next class was biology, which turns out she had with Scott. He was talking with her excitedly about the class and what they were doing, which was something that she had already seen in France, but still, she didn't want to appear rude. When they made it inside the class, she saw that the tables were for two people, which meant that she had to be paired with someone. The professor took a look at her transcripts, and while Scott had volunteered to be her partner, the professor said that it would be better for her to be paired with Manning because they had the same level of background knowledge. When she heard the name Manning, she quickly turned around and saw Cosima staring at her with fear in her eyes, and what appeared to be disgust. She did not get it, but still made her way next to her. The woman was holding her breath during most of the class, and after a routine exercise in which they did not exchange a word, Delphine felt the tears ready to come flowing. As soon as the bell rang, Delphine was going to ask Cosima what her problem was, but in a matter of seconds she saw her leave the classroom. Scott came to see her instead, and after telling him shortly what happened, he exhaled, almost relieved.

"Yes, sometimes the Manning's are so full of themselves." he said angrily. "Just because their father is the head of the clinic here."

And so he kept on complaining about the Manning's and the strange fascination that people had with them. Delphine was half-listening to him, her thoughts focused on Cosima and the way she had treated her in class, as if she smelled terribly. She interrupted Scott and told him that she had to go to the office of the secretary to print her schedule for the next day. Scott took her there, and then said goodbye because he had extracurricular activities. Delphine thanked him and went inside. When she did, she saw Cosima talking with the secretary.

"Don't you have any other class that I can take instead of Biology." she heard Cosima say.

Delphine was in shock. She had not expected Cosima to hate her that much. She moved forward, and when she did she saw Cosima's body become tighter and rigid.

"No Miss Manning, all the classes are full. It seems that you will have to stay in Biology." the secretary told her.

"Well, like in that case I will have to just stick with it." she said while making her way out of the room with barely looking at Delphine.

Delphine was speechless, and when the secretary motioned for her to come forward, she had to think it twice before actually doing what she told her. At her place, Delphine was only thinking about her day, and trying to see what she could have done that made Cosima Manning hate her so much. Her father had asked her questions about her day, and Delphine told her that all were welcoming and very friendly, to what her father nodded. Their talks were like that, almost like an update of how they were doing, but not much analyzing. Thankful for that, Delphine went to her room and called her mother, who turned out to be the complete opposite. She knew that something was wrong with Delphine, but somehow she had managed to dodge the bullet by asking her about Art and his new job in Germany.

'Oh darling, Germany is just wonderful.' she said. 'We miss you here. You know, you can come whenever you want to.'

'I know mom, but I'm really liking Gatineau and the people are very friendly.' _well, at least most of them_, she thought angrily.

'I do remember the Gatineau hospitality.' her mom said sweetly. 'And as long as you are happy, then it's ok.'

After some more trivial questions, Delphine told her mother that had a lot to read for the next day, which allowed her to hang up and think. She didn't like the feeling of knowing that someone hated her that much, and after much thought, she decided that she was going to stop thinking about Cosima Manning and just focus on her studies.

The next day, the first thing that she did when she got to the cafeteria was to look for Cosima in the table where she usually sat. Her siblings where there, talking with each other normally, but then no sight from Cosima. It was like that for a couple of days, and Delphine saw herself grow impatient and upset with the woman. She had done nothing to her, and still she had treated her as if she was her worst enemy. Delphine was getting used to working by herself on the lab, and had gotten good reviews from her professor, who was surprised by the way she managed without a partner.

One week passed, and when Delphine went to the lab, expecting to see the chair next to hers empty, she was surprised by seeing Cosima sitting in it with a lab coat and gloves. She sat right next to her and started to take her stuff out, not even bothering to look at her.

"Hello." she heard Cosima say quietly.

She looked around, expecting to see someone else. "Are you talking to me?" she said sarcastically.

Cosima smiled softly. "Yes, I believe we haven't been introduced properly. My name is Cosima Manning."

Delphine looked straight, too angry to be nice. "I know that." she just said and turned around, putting her hair as a wall between them. She could see Cosima smile cheekily at her remark, but instead of answering she just kept silent.

Today's classwork was to identify the stage in which the cells of different animals were at. She had done this lab in France already, so she knew what she was looking for. She wanted to show Cosima how smart she was and how she could manage without her, but then again Cosima was also smart, writing every answer correctly before allowing her to check. Frustrated she confirmed that her results were right, and with nothing else to do, the other groups taking far too long to answer, they were just looking at each other.

"Listen, I wanted to apologize about the other day." Cosima told her quietly. "I was rude, and it was totally unfair to you, but I was not feeling well at all."

Delphine looked at her, her frown softening at her statement. Now that she thought about it, Cosima did look sick that day.

"That's why I missed class the last week, apparently I got some kind of virus." she finished while smiling.

Delphine caught herself smiling at her, but then she stopped. "You wanted to switch classes."

"Yes, but because I thought that I was allergic to a chemical from the lab." she said while still smiling. "But it seems that it was something else."

Delphine looked at Cosima, not quite believing her explanation, but still, it was better than thinking that she hated her. When she looked at her eyes, she saw they were liquid gold.

"Your eyes." she said while getting closer to Cosima. "They are gold."

Cosima laughed nervously. "It must be the light from the room." she said while looking somewhere else.

Delphine was going to ask her something else, but then the bell rang, and again Cosima quickly got her stuff and left Delphine wondering what the hell was going on.


	3. Stranger

p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"After that brief talk, Delphine expected things to go back to normal, and normal meant that she would continue to go to class, talk to her new group of friends, and then head to Biology, where she would be ignored by her lab partner, who was mean to her but nevertheless an enigma that she felt she needed to figure out. Every day she looked at the table where the Manning's sat, and she could see Cosima looking at her intently. From time to time she could see that Sarah whispered something to her and she answered back while smiling cheekily. It seemed as if the siblings did not talk with each other much, except Sarah and Cosima who laughed sometimes at some joke that Sarah made. That day, she went to class and saw that the chair next to hers was empty, which made Scott come next to her and be her partner. The professor said that today's assignment was to take a drop of blood from their partner and examine it in the microscope. Delphine immediately froze, she never liked the idea of blood, and from what she could see in Scott's face, he was completely delighted by the idea. He looked at her while grinning from ear to ear, and after offering to go first, Delphine saw how blood started to drip out of his finger. She felt dizzy, and without wanting, she lost balance and was using the table to support her weight. She could smell the blood from here, the saltiness of it bothering her nostrils and making her feel like throwing up. Scott glanced up and saw her, his laugh immediately changing to concern./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Delphine, are you alright?" he asked worried while holding her from her shoulders. "Professor Duncan?"he called./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine saw the professor approaching them, and looking from Scott to Delphine with a worried gaze. "Why didn't you mention that you were uncomfortable with blood?"/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine just closed her eyes, trying to focus on the voice of the professor. "I had no idea I was." she answered hurriedly./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Scott, take her quickly to the infirmary." he motioned Scott./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine could sense Scott grab her arm and put it on top of him, and slowly he made his way out of the classroom. Delphine could still feel the smell following her, and that's when she realized that Scott had his finger still open and probably still dripping blood./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Scott, you need to clean your finger." she whispered. "It smells."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""No it doesn't." Scott said while shifting his weight. "And it's hard enough with me supporting your weight."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Is something wrong with her?" Delphine heard a soft voice talk to them. Briefly looking up, she saw Cosima looking at her with concern, which then focused to Scott. She laughed softly./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Apparently Delphine doesn't like blood, and Professor Duncan told me to take her to the infirmary." he said with anger. "Which is what I was doing."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Cosima looked straight, and after a while took Delphine's other shoulder, making Scott complain./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Don't worry Scott, I will take her." she said while grinning. "You should go back to class."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I will not leave her alone with you." he almost spat./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine looked up at Cosima, who was smiling warmly at her. She knew right away what she wanted to do. "Don't worry Scott, Cosima can take me to the infirmary. Besides, you need to finish the lab so we can get the grade. I would feel really bad if you failed because of me."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Scott was going to answer, but Delphine saw Cosima move swiftly across the halls, her weight not bothering her at all. In a matter of seconds they were knocking and the nurse looked at them with concern on her face. Cosima smiled./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Blood lab." she just said./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"The nurse laughed. "There is always one." and she motioned for both to come in. Cosima left Delphine right next to the bed, and Delphine was sad at the lack of touch. Actually, she just noticed that the room was really warm, which was strange, but perhaps it was a symptom of the nauseas that she was experimenting./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""So you want to study immunology but you don't like blood." Cosima said amused./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""No, I never liked it. It smells all salty." she answered her absently./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Cosima just nodded, looking uncomfortable, but still deciding to stay with her. When Delphine got the color back to her cheeks, she looked up to see Cosima looking intently at her. She blushed immediately, and got up./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I feel way better now." she told the nurse. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Don't even mention it. And say hi to Philippe for me."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"She nodded and made her way out of the infirmary, followed closely by Cosima who looked amused. Delphine was thinking what to say, something that would allow them to talk for a while, having the rest of the biology class period./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""You missed class." she said complaining. emNice way of being subtle Delphine./em/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Cosima laughed. "Yeah, I just think that it's nice to you know, take a day off and just wonder around."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Around where? There is nothing to do here in this small town."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""You mean, there is nothing to do here that you like." she answered while laughing. Delphine laughed too./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Touché. So tell me, Miss I know everything, what can a person do here in Gatineau?"/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""You can go hunt, or hiking, or to the beach on the reserve that is a few miles away from here." she said flatly. "Although this time of year it must be freezing."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine looked at Cosima, and saw that her full attention was on her. The way she was analyzing her made her feel observed, and instead of making her feel uncomfortable, it made her feel aroused, important./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Something that does not involve hunting or leaving town? I don't know if you have seen my car, but it barely makes it to school." Delphine said, making Cosima laugh./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Well, there is always you know, alternative ways to have fun." she whispered conspirationally. Delphine laughed and looked at where Cosima was putting her hand. She took out from her hand a joint. Delphine was surprised./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I guess that is a good enough reason to miss classes." she said while taking it and inhaling a bit, the feeling immediately making her relax./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"She gave it back to Cosima, who looked at her with surprise, analyzing and trying to understand her. "I would have never thought that you liked to smoke."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I like cigarettes." she said absently. "But I have tried pot before." Delphine added while taking another hit from the joint./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I can see that." Cosima whispered./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine was feeling watched, and she doesn't know if it was the effect of the joint or what, but she was getting closer to Cosima. She saw Cosima's jaw set tight, and her gaze coming down to her with extreme care. She felt cold hands on her shoulder, and the joint that was in her fingers taken away from her./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I think you have had enough of that." she heard Cosima say. "I wouldn't want people to think that I got the new girl high." she said this while smirking./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine got a little angry. "Not you too."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Cosima looked surprised at her./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Everyone keeps treating me like I'm this new interesting person, which I'm not all. I'm the most normal and rutinary human being you could know."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Cosima smiled again at her, and it made Delphine's anger dissipate. Seriously, what was going on with her and why did Cosima have such a big influence on the way she felt./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I highly disagree with you on that last thing." she said quietly./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine was going to ask her what she meant with that, but then the bell rang and Cosima backed away immediately. She could feel the effects of the joint already disappearing, and she knew that in a couple of minutes she would be good to drive home. She made her way to the parking lot, and quickly glanced to where the Manning's where. Delphine saw Cosima staring at her, her eyes never leaving and not caring about being obvious. She was hypnotized, and carefully she started to cross the street. Out of nowhere came this car at high speed, out of control and going straight at her. She didn't even have a chance to react, and without knowing how, she felt herself pushed at a tree, while on her other side she felt the impact of the car. Surprised she looked up, and she saw Cosima hugging her while her back was receiving the impact of the car. She then felt the wind on her face, and then she saw Cosima pushing her to the floor, concern and fear on her face. She didn't know how, but she saw the car that almost killed her have a bump on its front where she would have been impacted if it wasn't for Cosima shielding her. And then it came to her: Cosima had shielded her, and when she looked for any signs of injury, she saw she was quickly standing up and leaving her. The screams and voices of other people rushed to her ears, and without knowing how she found herself at the hospital. Her dad was there too, worried and angry at the guy that lost control of the car. She apologized to Delphine during the whole way to the hospital and in the hospital, which made Delphine grow irritated. Her father was more obvious, and closed the curtain that separated their rooms. Delphine was just waiting for the head doctor to come and look at her, which it seemed was really busy. When he did come she was speechless again, because he was completely beautiful and seemed almost of porcelain. He smiled at her with warmth, and after taking a quick look at her he talked./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Hi Delphine, my name is Dr. Douglas Manning. It's very nice to meet you, although the circumstances were not the best." he said apologetically. "But the good news is that you are perfectly fine, no internal trauma or signs of injury."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Yeah, thanks to Cosima because she took me out of the way where the car was heading towards me."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine could see that the doctor stopped writing for a while, absorbing that bit of information and nodding, smiling again when he looked at her. "You can go home after we get the last results from toxicology."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine looked nervous, because she knew that they would show a small level of marijuana on her system during the time of the accident. She nodded quietly and started to get up. She saw her that talking with the doctor, who was advising him on what painkillers to get for her. When they both made it outside, her father angry after realizing that Delphine had smoked pot before the crash, they both saw Cosima and her father talking. Delphine motioned for her dad to go ahead, arguing that she wanted to thank the petite for saving her life. Delphine made her way towards them, and she could see doctor Douglas talking passionately with Cosima, who was just whispering back, angry. They both stopped when they heard Delphine coming their way, and doctor Douglas smiled at her./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I was leaving, but before I was wondering if I could have a quick word with Cosima." she answered shyly./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Doctor Douglas nodded, but Delphine could see that before he left he gave Cosima a cautious look./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Ok, what do you want?" she told her angrily./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine was angry right away, because Cosima was treating her like shit again./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Listen, I just wanted to talk to you about what happened."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""There is nothing to talk about."/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Yes, there is." she almost screamed. People looked for a while at them, and Delphine apologized. "I saw you on the other side of the street, and it is humanly impossible for a person to run that distance so fast." she started to say, thinking about the other possibilities./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""No, I was standing right next to you." Cosima said coldly./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""That's not true and you know it." she said exasperated./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Well, they won't believe you anyway." she answered straight./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine was upset, this conversation was not coming the way she had expected. "I was not planning on telling anyone! I just wanted to know the truth. If you have these feelings towards me, why even bother to help me?"/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Cosima looked at her intently, and after a while she answered. "You don't know anything. Why can't you just say thank you?"/p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""I am saying thank you." she started to say./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Then you're welcome." Cosima interrupted her./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""But I also want to know the truth." she said again./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%""Then I hope you enjoy disappointment." Cosima told her, making her way out of the hall where they were talking./p  
p class="Standard" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;  
line-height:150%"Delphine just stayed there for a while, wondering if maybe she was the mistaken one and it was all a figment of her imagination. But she knew it wasn't, it was all real, and Cosima was not normal. She left the hospital with her father, and after talking with her mom for what seemed for an hour (her father had told her about the accident and she was worried), Delphine made her way to her bedroom and got ready to sleep. She was having nightmares about her day, all of them having Cosima as her heroine fighting to save her. She woke up from one where she was with Cosima and they were almost close to kissing, Delphine feeling all read with shame and excitement. She had never had those kinds of dreams, and it made her feel embarrassed. She froze in place, Cosima looking at her with intent and worry, but when she refocused she saw that there was nothing there. She was getting tired with the way she was getting invested in Cosima, when clearly the other woman barely liked her. Still, when they talked during her trip to the hospital, she saw a flick of interest, and the way she had risked her life also meant something, something that she didn't understand and was making her get angry. Again, she went to the bath to splash her face, trying to forget about Cosima and focus on other stuff. Her determination lasted little, because right when she went to sleep she started to dream again about Cosima Manning./p 


	4. Finding the Truth

The next day everyone was looking at her with concern in their faces. She felt the center of attention when before classes started all waited for her to tell how she was able to make it out of that accident without a single scratch. She thought about mentioning Cosima, but then she realized that it would be better for her to just forget her and not involve her further in her affairs. Although she was trying hard to forget about Cosima, she found herself during most of the day thinking about their conversation, and the way she had looked at her when they shared that smoke. It was absorbing, and she knew that she didn't deserve that kind of mistreatment. She decided that she was done with trying to understand Cosima Manning and just focus on her studies and finish high school. Her friends had convinced her to go to the beach that weekend, and she thought that it would be a nice opportunity to stop herself from worrying about classes and everything that had to do with Cosima. With this idea in her mind, she went to get herself some food from the cafeteria, not even caring about looking at the Manning's table and check if Cosima was there. She was over her and her weird behavior.

"Hello." she heard Cosima say behind her.

Delphine turned around, annoyed to see Cosima smiling softly. "What do you want Cosima?"

She saw Cosima doubt for a while her next step, not sure of what to do. Delphine just whispered and started to move forward, but Cosima was in front of her, stopping her from leaving.

"I don't get it Cosima. First you treat me bad, after that you are friendly, and again you treat me bad. Do you want or not to try to be friends?" she asked her exasperated.

"I didn't say that I didn't want to be your friend, I just think that it is not wise to be friends."

"And there you go again with those cryptic messages. Seriously Cosima, get your shit together before you try to talk to me again." Delphine said while moving away and heading to her table. She could feel Cosima's stare follow her, but she didn't care.

Her friends were looking at her with surprise, not believing that Cosima Manning approached her, but she just dismissed them with saying that it was because of their biology class. Still, she felt good about the way she had managed the situation. She knew that if she kept being nice to Cosima she would only get hurt more by her, and they weren't even that close to allow that abuse. Nevertheless, she was still curious about what happened, and one of the things that made her make the more mistakes was her curiosity. She had made a list of things that she noticed from Cosima, and kept thinking about their meaning. Super speed, super strength and golden eyes. It wasn't enough, making her be from a superhero to just a crazy fiction of her imagination. She was on her way to biology, still thinking about this list, finally deciding that it was ridiculous from a scientific point of view to be even thinking about this, but she got stopped by Cosima, who was grabbing her arm gently. She felt a cold shiver, and Cosima sensing her tense removed her hand.

"Listen Delphine, I want to apologize. I have been a real jerk with you, and you don't deserve that at all. I do want to be friends with you." she said embarrassed.

Delphine laughed softly, not wanting to forgive Cosima that fast. "You can start by telling me the truth."

Cosima looked at her, thinking quickly. "I had an adrenaline rush. You can google it, it's quite common."

Delphine just huffed, but still welcomed Cosima's try to be friendly and open with her. "Or, you can be a superhero for all I know."

Cosima laughed hard at this. "A superhero?"

"Yes, that is, one of my theories."

Cosima got a little closer to Cosima, amusement in her face. "One of your theories?"

Delphine felt herself hold her breath, surprised by Cosima's closeness. "Yes, like you could have been bitten by a radioactive spider." she whispered.

Cosima hummed. "Sadly no."

"So then you are not telling me that my theories are crazy, just that I have the wrong one."

Cosima's stare fell, turning into one of sadness and hardness. "What if I'm not the hero, what if I am the bad guy of the movie?"

Delphine stared back, wanting to grab Cosima's hand, but met with wind. She looked at Cosima, who was looking at her, waiting for an answer. "I find that very hard to believe." she told her sweetly.

Cosima was going to answer her but they got interrupted by Scott, who made a raspy noise with her throat. Delphine saw Cosima separate from her and start to head towards the classroom. She tried to grab her hand again and this time she didn't miss, surprising Cosima.

"This weekend we are going to go to the beach, you should come." she said quietly.

Cosima looked at her, considering her proposal, she nodded. "Which beach?"

"Breton Beach." she said, looking at the way Cosima flinched when she named the place.

"That beach gets really crowded." she said while making her way to the class, followed closely by Delphine and Scott, who was not pleased at all with her conversation with Cosima.

* * *

Brenton Beach was the definition of emptiness. Except from them, there was not a soul on the beach, the water too cold for anyone to go inside. Delphine had been inside the van of Felix during the whole time, talking with Angela and Aynsley about trivial things. She had decided already that she really liked Angela, a very quiet girl that was nice and kind. Aynsley, on the other side was something else. She could notice the jealousy that she had when she saw Delphine talk with the rest of their friends, especially Scott. It was obvious that Aynsley liked the guy, but he just ignored her for Delphine, and she knew that it was because she was the newest in town, aka the most interesting in his opinion. She had tried to tell him through all possible ways that she was not interested in him, and even mentioned it to Aynsley, positive that the first thing that she was going to do was tell it to him. Still, there they were, talking about the prom dance while the guys were running around the beach, laughing and throwing sand at each other.

"So, we should like go to the nearest town and buy ourselves some dresses for the prom." Aynsley said absently. "Don't you think so Delphine?" she added when she saw Delphine distracted with a book.

"Yeah, you should totally come with us, that way you also get to know the only half-interesting place near Gatineau." Angela said laughing.

Delphine did the same. "Yeah, that doesn't sound so bad."

"The prom is going to be 'Under The Sea' theme." Felix said while making his way to the van.

All the guys suddenly came, complaining about the theme.

"That is like so bad." Scott said while sitting right next to Delphine, making Aynsley mad. "It should be something cooler and newer, perhaps Hollywood."

"Yeaaah, I kinda dig that." Angela said, getting a small hit from Felix.

"Heeey, you should be supporting me and not him." Felix said dramatically. "But I guess that we can do a poll and ask the people what they would prefer." he said defeated.

Delphine was going to answer when she saw three boys walking in the beach, one of them highly recognizable.

"Paaaul!" Delphine said while standing up. He went to the back of the van with his two friends.

"Bella! So nice to see you." he said happily.

"What are you doing here?" Delphine asked him, happy to see him too.

"I live here. Our reserve is 10 minutes away from her."

"Yeah, sometimes we like to come to the beach, and we have actually seen you guys before." one of his friends said while shaking hands with Scott.

"You would have had a surprise if one of Delphine's friend had made it." Scott said laughing. "She invited Cosima Manning." he smirked.

Everyone looked surprised at Delphine, who just shrugged and didn't deny what Scott was saying, and why not? She was actually sad that Cosima had decided to not come.

"Good, because the Manning don't come here." one of Paul's friend said angrily.

Everyone changed subject after that, but she could see that Paul was uncomfortable after that remark, and right there Delphine knew what she had to do. She got up and asked Paul if he could walk with her, saying that her legs were falling asleep from staying in the car. She could feel Paul's excitement, following her right away. They walked quietly for a while, and Delphine couldn't just hold herself anymore.

"So, you don't like the Manning?" she said quietly.

Paul looked up at her, feeling guilty. "You caught that, huh?"

Delphine just looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"It's not that I don't like them, I mean I barely know them, but it is said that we and the Manning's go way back. We are members of the Quileute, a race of men that legend says can turn into wolves." he added embarrassed.

"Wolves?" Delphine said amused. Paul just shrugged.

"That's the legend." he said laughing. "And when they were patrolling their borders, which are the ones that go around my reserve and the beach, they met with the Manning, who were called the 'cold blooded'."

Delphine froze for a while, and after watching Paul's serious expression she laughed, making him laugh too. "Vampires?"

"Yeah, but they were different vampires. These ones didn't want to hurt people, killing animals instead, so the leader of that time of the Quileute decided to make a peace treaty that stops them from coming to our reserve. And I have never seen a Manning here." he added mischievously. "But then, maybe they are not that fond of the beach."

Delphine just smiled, thanking him for the walk, a fact that made Paul blush. She felt a little bad, making him think that he had a chance of being with her, but then again, it was another thing that she could add to her list of theories. When she finally got home, she went to her computer and started to find everything that she could about the cold blooded, even finding a book in the exact same town where she was going to go shopping with Aynsley and Angela. Turns out, that day won't be a total waste.

* * *

They were going to head straight after school in Angela's car, and for once in what felt like really a long time, there was a nice sun in the sky. Everyone was with shorts and tank tops, getting probably the only sunburn of the year. Delphine was looking around the parking lot, searching for Cosima, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"You won't find them here." Aynsley said sarcastically." The Manning's always go hiking when it's this sunny. Even Dr. Douglas takes the day off and joins them, like they are the ones that buy most of the hiking goods from the sports store that is owned by Scott's parents."

Angela nodded. "I think that is a nice way to spend such a beautiful day."

"Yeah, but at least ours will be more productive." Aynsley added excited.

Delphine just nodded, not interested in adding something to the conversation. They were soon on the highway, listening to songs and singing along. They made it to the town in one hour, and after staying for a while with Aynsley and Angela, Delphine decided to let them know the real purpose of her trip. They agreed to meet in half an hour, and Delphine quickly left the dress store and headed to the book store. It was a little bit 'alternative', like clearly taken out of a cheap horror movie, but she had gotten the book and was planning on reading it as soon as she got home. She didn't notice that it was dark, and because it was difficult to see, she got lost and went inside an alley. _Not such a bright idea, Delphine, _she thought when heard some men screams and laughs heading her way. She was going to turn around, but one of them noticed her and came running towards her, the other following.

"Look what we have here." he said out loud, laughing like a fool. "A beautiful woman lost."

Delphine froze, not sure of what to do. Maybe they would leave if she didn't do a thing.

"I guess it is our lucky day." one of them added while trying to grab her face.

Delphine reacted instantly and kicked the man, turning around and trying to make a run of it. The bad thing was that they were faster and soon enough she was surrounded. She saw a flicker of light appear and focus on them, making the men cover their eyes, which let her run between them, heading towards the light. She was stopped, and when she looked up, she saw Cosima looking at her with concern, her gaze following the men who were coming towards them.

"Go to the car now." she hissed angrily.

Delphine didn't want to leave Cosima, alone, because what chance could she have against all those men. Apparently they thought the same because they started laughing.

"You gotta be kidding me." one of them said while coming towards Cosima.

Next thing she knew, Delphine heard a low growl, which made the men stop and look at Cosima with surprise. Delphine could only see her back, so she wasn't sure of what Cosima was showing them, but it made them backtrack and leave them alone. Cosima turned around and headed for the car, motioning for her to get in too. As soon as she did, she saw Cosima move impatiently around the car, trying to decide what to do.

"I should just go and kill them." she said angrily.

Delphine froze. "No, you shouldn't." she whispered, scared.

"You have no idea, the vile and repulsive things that they were thinking about, things that included you." she hissed more angrily, her face constraining and her veins clearly visible.

"And do you?" she asked.

This made Cosima breathe, and after a while she answered. "No, but it is not hard to imagine." she added while starting her car and driving. "We are going to get you something to eat."

Delphine tried to refuse, but Cosima didn't listen to her, and in a matter of seconds they were outside an Italian restaurant, that turned out to be right in front of the dress store. She made her way to where Aynsley and Angela were standing.

"Where were you? We waited like half an hour for you." Angela said worried.

"I, ehhm." she started to say, but thankfully was interrupted by Cosima.

"We ran into each other and kept talking, not noticing that it was getting late." Cosima said while smiling seductively.

Delphine shrugged, feeling better at realizing that she wasn't the only one that found herself speechless towards the charms of Cosima Manning.

"That is like totally ok." Aynsley stuttered. "But we were starving and already ate."

"That won't be a problem at all. I will make sure that she eats and gets home safely." Cosima added happily.

"Sure thing." Angela added while getting inside the car. She separated Delphine and whispered. "Don't forget to tell us what happened on Monday."

Delphine turned around and saw Cosima laugh, pushing her inside the small restaurant. It was nothing big, but the food was really nice and the place comfy. It would have been a great evening except for the waiter, who was hitting at Cosima during the whole time, but she only looked at Delphine, which made her feel better.

"That guy is hitting at you like crazy." Delphine said conspirationally.

Cosima just laughed. "I'm not interested." she said while looking at Delphine intensely.

Delphine felt herself get all red, but she wanted to ask Cosima all the questions that she had. "So, how did you know that I was here?"

Cosima thought for a while what to say, and Delphine started to laugh. "Don't tell me that you were stalking me." she said amused, making Cosima look up.

"Well, let's just say that I was around town..."

"Very convenient of course." Delphine murmured, making Cosima laugh.

"And that I felt that you needed my help." she finished seriously.

"There you go again with the lies." she said exasperated. "We both know that is not true.

Cosima shifted, getting closer to Delphine and grabbing her hand. "I don't know why, but for some strange reason I feel very protective of you. I did follow you here." she confessed. "But I was planning on staying away and just watch, but then I heard Aynsley say that you were late, which made me get worried and that was when I heard what those vile men were thinking."

Delphine just looked at Cosima, urging her to continue answering her questions. "You heard their thoughts?"

Cosima laughed lightly. "Yes, that's how I know you weren't with Aynsley and Angela."

"So that's why you always laugh without a reason." Delphine said while laughing. "You snoop around other people's thoughts."

Cosima smiled. "It was very frustrating and hard at first, answering to what people were thinking and not to what they were speaking, but after a while I learned how to control it."

"So tell me then, what am I thinking now." Delphine teased lightly.

Cosima's gaze turned serious. "I can't, because I get nothing." she said.

"Am I a freak then?" Delphine asked worried.

Cosima laughed hard. "And here I tell you that I can listen to thoughts and just because I can't listen to yours you ask me if YOU are a freak." she said happily. "But as much as I want this conversation to continue, we have to get you home before your dad gets worried."

Delphine didn't want to leave the table, but she knew that if she didn't make it back, she would get grounded, and tomorrow she promised to go with him to see John. When they made it to the car, Delphine noticed that she was cold, probably from all the nerves that she still had inside. At one point she couldn't take it anymore and tried to push the heat button, where she instead touched Cosima's hand, who had planned to do the same. The hand was freezing, and immediately Cosima took it away, watching Delphine's reaction for a while and then turning her gaze back at the road. Either the way back was shorter, or Cosima was a fast driver, because the drive that took her one hour was shortened to 40 minutes. She was hesitant about getting out, but Cosima smiled softly and stretched her arm so that she could open the door, which basically meant _get out right now. _Still, she looked at Cosima.

"Thank you for telling me the truth today Cosima." she whispered softly.

Cosima nodded. "It felt nice to do it."

They stayed there for what felt like an eternity, looking at each other without knowing what to do next, but when Delphine saw the light of the front porch turn on she got out of the car and waved goodbye. Her father was coming out to greet her, and after eating the leftovers of yesterday, she went up to her room and started to half-read her book, a small woman with the name of Cosima Manning being on her mind during the rest of the night.


	5. The Forest

Delphine was walking around the botanic field without a care about it. She never considered plants as an interesting topic, and this field trip felt for her a cheap attempt of Professor Duncan to make the class be fun. Everyone was running around and touching the plants, laughing and moving while Professor Duncan was giving them instructions about the project that they would have to do. She felt someone get next to her, and when she turned she saw Scott smiling nervously at her. She smiled back, and this made Scott decide.

"Soooo, you know that there will be prom, right? And we are supposed to ask someone." he said while moving to face Delphine. When he did this, Delphine saw that Cosima was looking at them, waiting.

"Yeah, and I know of someone that wants to go with you." she said, thinking right away of Aynsley.

"Really! Well, I was wondering if this person would also want to go with me." he said smiling.

Delphine saw from behind that Cosima was putting her hand in her face, and she mouthed _'he thinks that it's you.' _

"You mean me?" she said quietly. When Scott nodded she froze, understanding how what she said could be misinterpreted. "I was talking about Aynsley:"

Scott stopped, analyzing the new information. "But I want to go with you."

Delphine saw Cosima walk towards them, in a way earsdroping her conversation. She wanted to laugh but then that would be insulting towards Scott. "I don't like to dance, Scott. So I wasn't really planning on going to prom."

"Not going to prom?!" Scott said almost screaming. "But you know that this only happens once in your life, right?"

"Yes, but I'm going to travel that day also,so..." she said, knowing that it was the only way to stop him from insisting. "I think you should ask Aynsley, I know she really wants to go with you." she said while pointing towards her.

Scott just nodded absently and went to meet his friends, trying to pretend that nothing happened. Delphine just kept walking towards the busses, but a cold hand stopped her from moving forward. She saw Cosima looking at her intendly.

"So, where do you have to go?" Cosima told her amused.

"So you were listening then?" she answered back, laughing.

Cosima just looked straight, and she started to smile too. "Well, after turning him down you will have to go somewhere, you know."

"So, you want to come with me?" Delphine said smiling. "May I ask why?"

"Well, it seems that you are a danger magnet and that makes me be nervous, so I thought that it would be best if I accompanied you."

"Then I guess we are really doing this." Delphine said quietly.

Cosima looked at her, expecting her to continue.

"We are trying to be friends."

"Yes, but remember Delphine, I may not be a very good friend, reason number one being the fact that I know this and I still want to be with you." she said somberly.

"As I told you before, I don't see that evilness that you always warn me about, and also, I think it's my choice to decide who is or is not my friend." Delphine said, while getting exasperated at Cosima.

Cosima just looked straight, thinking what to say. "Ok, then I will pick you up next week." she said while walking ahead and getting inside the bus with her siblings. Delphine looked up and saw them all staring at her. She got uncomfortable and made her way for the other one, wanting to just go home and read her book.

* * *

"Dad, is this really necessary?" she said while being handed a pepper-spray and a small tazer.

When she came back home, she saw her father waiting in the living room.

"Yes, we are getting in the office a series of reports about dissaperances and attacks." he said quietly. "Nothing to worry about, but I want you to be prepared."

"Someone close to us got attacked, right?" Delphine said, knowing her father too well.

Her dad looked up and nodded quietly. "Henry McArthur, he was in his tent getting his boat ready for a fishing trip and never made it back home. His wife went to look for him and saw him dead, appearing to have been attacked by an animal."

"Why would you say an animal?" she gasped.

"Because he had his yugular destroyed, and blood-dried." he added absently.

Delphine was surprised, and she inmediately thought about Cosima and how her eyes had changed from black to gold. Her cold hands and body, her ability to read people's thoughts, her strenght and velocity. She quietly excused herself and walked to her room. It was crystal clear, and she knew what she had to do the next day. What would happen afterwards was a mystery, but she still had to get answers.

The next day she made her way to the parking lot, looking right away to where she knew Cosima always parked. She saw her there and immediately they were looking at each other. The bell rang, and instead of going to the building, she made her way to the forest, expecting Cosima to follow her. She walked for a while, trying to get as away from civilization as possible. She heard a noise, and right behind her was Cosima, looking expectantly. She knew that it was now or never, but she still couldn't find out how to say it.

"You are incredibly fast, and strong. You never eat or drink, you never go out in the sunlight and you can read people's thoughts." she said slowly.

She felt Cosima approach her quietly, not saying a word.

"How old are you?" she asked Cosima.

Cosima just looked straight. "Seventeen."

"For how long have you been seventeen?" she asked quietly.

"A while." she answered.

"I know what you are." she breathed out, aware of Cosima's closeness.

"Then just say it." Cosima said as quiet, with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Vampire."

"Are you afraid?"

"Surprisingly, no." Delphine answered with honesty.

She felt Cosima's cold breath against her ear, and this made her melt right there, wanting for Cosima to get closer.

"Then ask me." she whispered. "What do we eat?"

"I trust you." she said while turning and having Cosima's face almost touching hers.

"You really shouldn't, especially after knowing this." she said quietly while grabbing her hand. "I will show you."

Delphine felt the wind against her face, and when she opened her eyes she saw blurred trees going past her. The feeling ended soon when she was laying near the top of the mountain. Cosima was a few steps ahead of her, going towards the sun.

"If we ever show ourselves in the sunlight, people will notice that we are different." she said while taking down the straps of her dress.

Delphine just looked at her, not quite sure of what Cosima was intending, and instead of being worried about the intensity of the moment, she just felt herself getting red and waiting anxiously for Cosima to turn around. When she did she was speechless, Cosima was looking at her with sadness in her eyes, her skin glowing like diamonds when the sun touched. Still, what Delphine noticed most was that Cosima was almost naked, only having her underwear to cover and making Delphine get more red and embarrased. Cosima noticed this and immediately got her clothes back on, making her way towards Delphine, almost angry.

"Don't look at me like that, Delphine." she hissed.

"But you are beautiful Cosima." she gasped.

"Because I'm meant to attract my preys." she answered angrily. "I'm the most dangerous predator because everything about me makes people get closer. My physique, my voice, even my smell." she laughed bitterly.

Delphine was going to deny all of this, but it was true. Everything about Cosima was inviting, not a single sign of imperfection.

"If I had told you to come with me that day after our first class, would you have come?" she heard Cosima ask her.

"Yes." she said without a doubt.

This made Cosima get angrier.

"But because I trust you." she said while going forward and trapping Cosima's face with her hands.

Cosima calmed down after this gesture. "That day when you came inside the room, I thought that you were sent by the devil to torment me. I hated to want you so much, to need you so much." she whispered quietly. "And when I saw you again in the secretary's office, it would have been so easy to take you, having only one witness to get rid off."

Delphine was a little scared after this revelation, but still relieved. She wasn't hated by Cosima that first day.

"Luckily I stopped, and went to hunt for a week, getting ready to meet you and face you, because you see, I was drawn to you. I couldn't read your thoughts, and I wanted to know you. So next week I talked, and you answered. I did try to stay away, but I don't think I can." she confessed embarrassed.

Delphine just looked at Cosima with determination in her eyes, and after getting her attention, she slowly moved forward, warning Cosima. She saw Cosima take a deep breath, getting ready. Delphine slowly made her way to Cosima's neck, and more slowly she gave her a kiss. She heard Cosima moan quietly, and this got her more excited. Instead of staying there, she looked up again and made her way to her ear.

"I don't think I can either." she whispered in Cosima's ear, sending her shivers. "I even dream about you now.

She saw Cosima just close her eyes and stay quiet, not wanting to risk her self-control.

"I can stop whenever you want to." she reminded her. Cosima nodded.

"I was scared about you hating me, you looked at me with so much hatred and I thought that I did something wrong." she kept on going. "But I understand now, and I'm sorry." she said while moving away.

Cosima stopped her. "Please don't move." she said while opening her eyes.

Delphine just stayed there frozen, and after watching Cosima set her jaw straight, she felt her lips on her mouth. She couldn't believe it, and forgetting about Cosima's warning, she kissed her back. Cosima's hands were on her hips, pushing her down towards her core. Delphine moaned, and moved her hips trying to get contact. She was getting her hands on Cosima's face, and pushing her closer, which made Cosima growl. When this happened, she felt her body move up and being taken to a tree, where Cosima kept on kissing her, moving her tongue inside Delphine's mouth in all possible patterns. Delphine was starting to get her shirt, but then Cosima's hands were stopping her and she felt an empty space where Cosima was seconds before. They looked at each other, both with lust in their eyes, and Cosima breathing out of control. She started to make her way back to Cosima, wanting more, but then she got stopped.

"Please, you don't understand. I want to, and you have no idea how. But I'm scared of losing control. My family, we are different from others of our kind. We feed on animals, and although that allows us to survive, it doesn't end the hunger that can only be filled with human blood. And your blood, it's like my own brand of pot, one that I never want to stop having." she added darkly.

Delphine understood and moved back, trying to control her lust. She saw Cosima looking at her, and after what felt like hours, she sat down on a stone.

"I know you can." she said quietly.

Cosima approached her and made her stand up, again taking her towards the stone where seconds before they were making out. "Listen, I can't read your mind, and I really need to know how you feel."

Delphine felt herself get excited again, and she understood how much passion Cosima made her feel. "Now I'm afraid."

Cosima stiffed, and started to get herself away from Delphine. "Good."

"I'm not afraid of you. I trust you" she whispered to Cosima. "I'm only afraid of losing you." she whispered while getting closer to Cosima and kissing her softly.

Cosima kissed her back in the same manner, and in seconds they separated. "You have no idea how long I have waited for you." she said quietly. After a while she whispered again. "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."

Delphine laughed out-loud, finding the analogy funny. "What a stupid lamb."

She saw Cosima laughing too. "And what a sick masoquistic lion." she said, making both of them laugh loudly.

After staying for a while just kissing softly, the both of them made their way down the mountain and back to where Cosima kept her car. The ride home was quiet, and they were grabbbing each other's hands and smiling. When they got to Delphine's place, she saw Cosima looking at her, not quite knowing what to do. Delphine laughed.

"You can kiss me, you know?" she said sarcastically.

Cosima laughed and made her way to Delphine. She brushed her lips lightly against Delphine, and after separating just a small bit she whispered. "Your wish is my command, now get out."

Delphine smiled again and left the car, almost jumping to her house. Her dad noticed her sudden change, and after just telling him that she had a good day at school she went to her room and straight to bed, wanting to go and dream about Cosima and what they couldn't finish at the forest. The next day, she got up and made her way towards the bathroom. When she got out she saw Cosima sitting on her bed and looking at her excitedly. Her stare changed and focused on her, and that was when she noticed that she wasn't quite decent.

"Cosimaaaa! What are you doing here?" she whispered. "My dad is sleeping in the other room."

Cosima laughed. "Don't worry, I came through the window." she said as if nothing.

Delphine was going to answer but then her dad knocked and opened the door. She froze.

"Hey, were you talking to someone?" he asked sleepily.

"Only reviewing some notes, I have a test today." she said quietly, looking around her room for Cosima.

When he closed the door she heard her window being closed, and when she went there she saw Cosima smiling and pointing to the desk that is right next to her. She looked and she saw a note that said. '_Get dressed or I'm afraid that we won't make it to school.' _Delphine held her breath, and after a few seconds she moved to the bathroom to do just that. She now realized that she had fallen unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Cosima Manning, who turned out to be a vampire. Her time in Gatineau had turned to become the opposite of what she thought it would be.


	6. Mortality

After that day and during the following two weeks, Delphine and Cosima spent almost all the time together. They mostly talked, questioning each other about their lives before they met. Delphine was fascinated by things Cosima saw and knew about the world. The perks of being immortal were that you had all the time in the world to do what you wanted. One thing that Delphine really envied was all the places that Cosima knew. She always had the dream of grabbing a bag and going from city to city without a care. Reality was the complete opposite with her only going to Gatineau, which wasn't a very exotic place to live in. _Well, not one that normal people are aware of. _

"So tell me." Delphine asked laughing. "In what place have you stayed the longest?"

She saw Cosima think for a while, trying to remember. "Jamaica." she answered while smiling.

"It actually makes a lot of sense." she answered while laughing.

Cosima looked at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I mean, your dreadlocks, you smoke pot, and you sometimes speak all funny." she said while laughing. "Especially while you smoke pot."

Cosima laughed out loud. "Well, that is stereotyping. You should be ashamed of yourself." she mocked her. "But I guess you could say that I took with me some of their customs. I loved Jamaica: The people, the story, their love for life and simplicity."

Delphine smiled. "You only missed meeting Bob Marley."

Cosima smiled. "I did meet him."

"Bullshit."

"I swear I did." she said putting her hands up in surrender. "He was truly something else." Cosima said quietly.

Delphine stayed quiet. "It must be hard to watch the people you love go away."

Cosima looked up to her, a hint of fear in her eyes. "But that's life and the way things are meant to be. What I am is not natural, and something that I don't even wish for my worst enemy."

Delphine stayed quiet. She was not going to lie, she had thought a lot about her mortality after meeting Cosima. After realizing how things worked, what she wanted the most was to become like her, to be with her. She saw how Cosima's family was able to live almost normal lives and be with their loved one until the end of time. And yes, people die, but being a vampire was not any different from losing a loved one because of sickness or an accident.

"You don't understand." Cosima told her once. "It's not that easy. People are not supposed to know about our existence, which is why we move a lot. The moment will come in which you will be 35 years old but still look like a 17 year old woman, and that's when you say goodbye to your friends. Because of that we learned to stop being friendly to others and just stay to ourselves. It is easier to just disappear when no one really cares about you." Cosima said quietly.

"But what if we keep it a secret, like you only tell the people you truly trust." Delphine had told her desperate.

"In our world there is an organization called the DYAD, they are like the keepers of our rules and laws, elected millennia ago to enforce and punish the vampires who don't follow them. You only do something against the DYAD if you want to die, because for us vampires it is nearly impossible to die." She said while smiling sadly.

Delphine just stared right at her, feeling the sadness that Cosima had, the insecurities that it brought about their future. "What does that mean for us?" she whispered, scared.

Cosima looked up to meet her eyes and took her hand, kissing it softly. "It means that we will be together, and I will love you and cherish you, because during all of these years I have never met someone like you, Delphine Cormier."

"You know that's not what I meant." she said angrily while getting up and going away.

Cosima followed her. "Then what do you want me to say? What would you want me to do?"

"I want to be with you forever." she said angrily.

Cosima was startled, but then calmed. "And we will, until death do us part."

"There shouldn't be." Delphine said darkly.

"You don't know what you are asking for, and I won't do that to you. It would be selfish of me and I love you too much." Cosima said while picking her up and taking her through the forest to the car.

After that they never talked again about mortality, Cosima changing the subject as soon as Delphine mentioned it. Their favorite place was the forest where they first kissed, and every day after class they made their way towards it (Cosima running and Delphine being carried by her, which just looked really weird). Cosima wanted to know more about her family, about her mother and new husband, why her parents broke up and what made her come to Gatineau.

"It's not that I don't like him." Delphine told her while she shrugged. "But my mom was starting a new life with him, and I didn't see myself being part of that new life. Don't get me wrong." she added. "I love my mother, and I'm happy because she found love again."

"But?..." Cosima added, wanting her to explain further.

"But that's her new life, and I will never be a part of it. I'm a constant reminder of her past, of my dad and of Paris. I knew that I had to get away from it all, but my mother is selfish and she would have never let me stay on my own. That was the moment when I realized that Gatineau was the answer." Delphine said quietly. "After I finish high school I plan to move and get my masters and then PHD in immunology."

Cosima smiled brightly. "It seems that you have everything planned."

"I did." Delphine confessed quietly. "Until I met you I knew what I wanted from life. Now, I can't see myself without you. I know that for you it's going to be easier to move on. I will be able to, but I don't think I want to."

Cosima looked at her, and came forward and kissed her. "You still don't believe me when I tell you how much you mean to me." she said almost angrily.

Delphine laughed bitterly. "I mean, look at you and then at me. I still don't get what you see in me."

"You are so special, and if you could have known what people thought about you that first day of class, you would realize how beautiful you truly are. But then I guess there is only one way to make you realize how serious I am." Cosima said while getting up and pulling her along.

Delphine just looked at her, waiting.

"I guess it's time you meet the folks." she said happily.


	7. The Families

So she was not going to lie. After Cosima told her that she wanted to introduce her to her family, Delphine almost fainted. She was more terrified of causing a bad impression than the possibility of being in a room full of vampires.

_"I will totally understand if you don't want to come." Cosima said quietly. "In fact, now that I think about it, the rational thing for you to do would be to deny my invitation and run."_

_Delphine took a deep breath. "But what if they don't like me?"_

_Cosima just stared right at her, and Delphine thought for a moment that Cosima was simply going to ignore her question, but then she started laughing like crazy._

_"You are more scared of the opinion that my family may have of you than the fact that they are all vampires?" she said between breaths. "Those are the things that make me love you." she added._

_Delphine held her breath. This was the first time that Cosima told her those words. Yes, they already established that they were crazy about each other, but they had never said those binding words. Delphine had felt time since the first time they kissed, but was scared of saying them because everything that involved the future made the two of them fight. But now, it was Cosima the one opening the window, and Delphine was not going to waste her chance._

_"You do?" she whispered, unsure._

_Cosima started to walk towards her, hunger in her eyes. Delphine already knew this kind of hunger, and she was feeling it too._

_"So much." Cosima whispered while kissing her neck. "So much it hurts sometimes."_

_Delphine whimpered when she felt her cold breath on her neck, and made Cosima more space. "I'm sorry to cause you pain." she said, not feeling sorry at all._

_"I think we already established that I have masochistic tendencies." Cosima whispered while grabbing Delphine's ear and biting it softly. Delphine yelped at the action, excitement building. "Besides, I would do anything for you."_

_"Anything?" she asked, moving her face and kissing Cosima on the lips, surprising her and biting her lip softly. Cosima whimpered, and for a while held her jaw straight. Delphine gave her a few seconds to recover, and when she did she kept on going. Cosima started to hum softly._

_"Yes, anything..." Cosima said. "Within reason." she added while eyeing Delphine carefully._

_Delphine whispered her disappointment, and Cosima laughed while kissing her again. "I don't like when you get all technical."_

_Cosima smiled. "So you were trying to seduce me then?"_

_"Always."_

_"Then I think we can make a deal." Cosima husked. "Come meet my family, and after that I promise I will hear whatever proposition you have."_

_Delphine smiled and separated from Cosima just to give her a chaste kiss on the lips. "I can do that."_

But now that she was dressing and getting ready for her time with the Manning's, she got all nervous and insecure. She was scared of them not liking her, the fact that they barely looked at her when she was sitting with her friends in the cafeteria room all obvious. Cosima still sat with them on the table, both of them deciding to let their families know first before the whole school found out, but still Cosima picked her up every day before school and dropped her off after they spent the afternoon in the forest. Her father was suspicious, and from what Delphine saw, dying to ask her about her afternoons. But she always made excuses and went to her room. Now that she was going to have dinner with Cosima's family, she had decided to introduce Cosima to her dad. When she told Cosima this, she got excited about the opportunity to finally meet him. Before any of this happened, she had to tell her father, and she had never thought about the fact that Cosima was a woman, which meant double surprise for him. She decided that a subtle approach was not going to work, and instead was going to go straight to the point. She finished getting dressed and went down to the living room where her father was watching tv. He looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Dad, you were right. I have been spending my afternoons with someone." she said shyly.

Her dad turned off the tv and focused his attention on her. _And she thought that this was going to be easy._

"Is it serious?" her father asked her.

"It is pretty serious." she said. "In fact, I'm going to meet..." she stopped because the door bell rang.

Delphine went quickly to the door and opened it. Cosima was outside, looking at her with amusement. She knew that Cosima could read her father's mind, and that made Cosima whisper sarcastically.

"Nice approach. I want to see now what he will say when he realizes that I don't have a pen..." Cosima stopped because she heard her father standing up and going towards the door.

Delphine showed Cosima in, making her go the living room, which meant that she met her father halfway. He went right back when he saw that Delphine opened the door and sat down, motioning for Cosima follow. She was going to do it but Delphine stopped her.

"Dad this is Cosima. Cosima this is my dad Philippe." she said while letting them shake hands. Cosima looked nervous, but her dad shaked her hand without a care. This made Delphine continue.

"Dad, as I was saying, I'm going to meet her family right now." she said.

Her father just looked straight, and Cosima started to laugh. Both of them got startled by this and Cosima quickly looked away embarrassed.

"So you are going to meet his family with Cosima?" he said, not getting it.

Delphine got desperate. "No dad, I said HER. I'm going with Cosima to meet her family, because I'm dating Cosima." she almost yelled.

After she said this there was silence in the room. Delphine looked at Cosima and saw her expressionless, and her father just staring straight at the wall. Minutes passed and still her father was not reacting. She looked again at Cosima and saw a hint of a smile appear in her face. This made her relax and just wait a little longer.

"So, is this your way of telling me that you like women?" he said quietly.

"It's not that, I don't think it's something that needs to be labeled. I just like Cosima and I want to be with her." Delphine told her simply.

His dad nodded and shifted his focus to Cosima. "Do you like my daughter too?"

"Yes sir, and I like her a lot." Cosima answered calmly. "And I promise to keep her out of harm."

Her dad nodded. "Then I guess it's ok with me." he said while smiling shyly. "I'm just happy that you are happy."

Delphine smiled and went to hug his dad tightly. "Thanks dad."

After that she went with Cosima to her car, and on the way out they saw Paul and his dad coming to her house. Delphine stopped to say hi to them, making Cosima follow her lead. She stayed there quietly, unlike her, and just smiling tightly. She could see that Paul and his dad were also uncomfortable, so after a little bit of small talk, Delphine said goodbye and went to Cosima's car. When she closed the door she looked straight at her.

"What was that about?" she asked.

Cosima just looked straight. "I don't understand."

"Don't play stupid with me, I know what I saw."

"Let's just say that there is a little bit of history between his reserve and our family." Cosima said quietly.

"You have to be kidding me. The only reason you don't get along is because of some old tale?"

"Well, yes." Cosima said absently.

Delphine was going to say something else, but then again, she knew better than to disregard the value of myths. And also, they were already parking outside of a very big and bright house that had huge windows. Cosima saw Delphine's surprised face and smiled.

"What? Not what you expected to find? No creepy dark house with a weird doorman and spider webs around?" Cosima told her while laughing.

"It's just so bright and open." Delphine said while looking at Cosima.

Cosima looked back fondly. "It's the only place where we don't have to hide." she continued while opening the door. "I know people already told you about my 'siblings'."

Delphine looked down embarrassed, Cosima just laughed. "And they were completely right. Not one of us is related. We were all turned by Douglas, who we all see as a father. He is almost 1000 years old." Cosima said while showing her around the house.

"The first person that he turned was Marian, who he met in a hospital many years ago. Marian lost her daughter and because of that she killed herself. Douglas saw that she was alone, and when he realized that the fall didn't kill her he turned her into one of us. You must understand that the self-strength that he must have had to not kill her is beyond compare."

Delphine was looking at the different memorabilia that the Manning's had. There were things that looked thousands of years old, almost like a museum.

"Many years later Douglas found me. I was in a hospital bed, dying of influenza. My mother had already passed away and I was all alone. For some strange reason, Douglas took a liking to me and decided to make me a part of his family. I was rebellious at first, refusing to live under his rules of self-control and animal blood, so because of that I ran away. Those were the darkest days that I had, and after years I found myself back home, wanting to live the life he lived, which I'm still trying to do every day." Cosima said quietly while moving forward.

Delphine knew how hard it was for Cosima to open her feelings, so in order to encourage her, she squeezed her hand tightly and kissed it softly. Cosima smiled and continued.

"After that, many years passed and Douglas found Alison. He found her almost dead in an alley and in order to not let her suffer an agonizing death, he turned her. I think he also wanted to give me a mate, my sexual preferences already known, but it never clicked and Alison is as straight as an arrow." Cosima chuckled. "Which thankfully led her to Donnie, who she saved from a pack of wild bears and later made Douglas turn him."

"And what about your other family members?" Delphine asked.

"Well, they weren't turned by Douglas. In fact we were one day in the woods hunting, and we caught the scent of two vampires. We are very careful about other vampires in our territory because we are members of the society and their presence could jeopardize our position. So when a new vampire appears we go and talk. Sarah and Cal came out of nowhere and told us that they had a vision of us and that we were going to become a big family. After that, the rest is history and many years later here we are."

Delphine was speechless. She never expected Cosima to be such a living testament of the passing of time. Their past had been difficult times, filled with sickness and dead, no living relative that cared about them, only having their clan as family. She now understood why they were so protective of each other: because they had no one else in the whole world. They were interrupted when a beautiful woman came inside the room and smiled at them fondly. Delphine smiled back right away, already liking her.

"Delphine." she said while smiling fondly. "It is so great to finally meet you. Cosima has told us a lot about you."

"I hope good things." she answered back while smiling. This must be Marian Bowles.

Right next to her was Dr. Douglas, who was smiling also. "Delphine, it is so good to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too Dr. Manning."

"Please, just Douglas now."

Delphine smiled at their warm welcome. She could hear dishes in the kitchen and voices discussing. Apparently the Manning's pretended to not hear a thing, and instead started to show her around. They were moving out of the dining room when Delphine saw a quick light and then felt someone hugging her. Everyone froze. When Delphine saw that it was Sarah Manning, she smiled right away. This woman was completely the opposite of what people thought.

"Delphine." she said while separating away. "We will be such good friends." she smiled and then started to smell her. "Cosima was right, you do smell good."

Delphine saw that everyone in the room was quietly looking at them, and as soon as the exchange was done, Sarah gave space to Cal, who just said hi from afar. Cosima took Delphine's hand and led her to the kitchen, where she found Alison and Donnie in what appeared to be a fight. Donnie stopped and went to say hi to Delphine. Alison, on the other hand stayed quietly cooking.

"I hope you are hungry?" Marian said while motioning for her to sit down.

"Thank you, but I already ate." she said while she heard the sound of glass smashing the floor. She could see Alison looking at her angrily. "But I ate because I know that you don't eat."

"Wonderful." Alison said sarcastically.

Marian looked angrily at her daughter. "That's very considerate of you."

"Very considerate of Cosima also to expose us to this kind of danger." she hissed at Delphine.

Douglas looked at her. "Delphine knows that it is important that this remains a secret, and if Cosima trusts her, then so do I."

"But what happens if something goes wrong? What then?" Alison said back.

"Well, if something goes wrong then I think I will become dinner." Delphine said quietly.

She felt everyone looking at her, and soon they all started laughing, even Cal who was still separated from the rest of the group. She felt Cosima grabbing her hand lightly while leading her away. She thought she saw Marian blink at them, and soon enough they were making their way towards Cosima's room. They stayed there talking, and Cosima even played her a song that she composed. It was the perfect day, and when Cosima took Delphine home, she stayed in the car for a bit.

"I had a wonderful time." Delphine told her between kisses. "I just hope Alison stops hating me."

"Alison hates everyone." Cosima said while kissing her back. "And I also had a wonderful time."

Things were starting to heat up between the two of them, and it was Cosima the one who separated them. Her eyes were not as gold as she used to have them, which meant that she was hungry.

"I'm sorry." Delphine whispered while giving her one last kiss. "I just miss you already."

"I know. So do I." she answered quietly while kissing her back.

Delphine opened the door and got out of the car, making her way towards her house and going in quietly. Her father left her a note saying that he had to go to the reserve because there was an accident and that he would be back later. This made Delphine have all the time in the world to just relax and head to her room to take a quick shower after eating dinner. When she was done with all of this, she went to the room and saw Cosima looking happily at her, her eyes the beautiful shade of golden that she loved. She sat down right next to Cosima and soon enough they were hugging each other. Delphine smiled.

"Are we going to have a sleepover?" she asked huskily.

Cosima smiled. "Yes, but sadly not that kind of sleepover, not yet. Still, I tried to go home after my hunt, but found it impossible to stop thinking about you. I realized that the only way to be at peace was while laying right next to you. I hope that's ok." Cosima said shyly.

Delphine looked back at her with love and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. She wrapped herself around Cosima and found that it was truly comfortable to do so. Cosima's skin was cold and sweet, so sweet that she wanted to taste it. She didn't, and instead just closed her eyes.

"Good night Cosima." she said almost sleep.

Cosima smiled. "Good night Delphine."


End file.
